


In the Blood

by wolfy_writing



Series: Escape [2]
Category: Guardians of the Galaxy (Movies)
Genre: Experimentation, F/M, For a particular sense of the word, It's kind of a thing, Peter quill gets kidnapped a lot, Post-Movie: Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, Rocket actually cares
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-27
Updated: 2018-06-27
Packaged: 2019-05-29 14:40:11
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 11,006
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15075314
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wolfy_writing/pseuds/wolfy_writing
Summary: The Guardians of the Galaxy get called in by Nova Corps to help with a sensitive matter, leading Peter to reconnect with an old friend.  Meanwhile, Rocket has a bounty offer that could spell trouble.Set between Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 and Avengers: Infinity Wars





	1. Chapter 1

“Tell me, what do you know about Celestials?”

 _They’re assholes_ , Rocket didn’t say. But they were. Ego, definitely. A total asshole. And the Collector had shown one destroying an entire planet with an Infinity Stone. Definitely an asshole. Quill was half-Terran and half Celestial, and about fifty-percent moron, fifty-percent asshole.

“I’ve heard a few things,” he said instead.

“Rumors, undoubtedly.” The client waved his hand. “Contradictory stories. Some don’t even think they’re real.” He turned to Rocket, after what was probably meant to be a dramatic pause. “But I _met_ one. A live one, in the flesh.”

Had _this_ jerk met Ego?

The client pulled out a vial of pale blue liquid. “Distillate of the blood of a Celestial. Two months ago, this glowed. The smallest taste would give you visions of vast cosmic wisdom. People would pay a fortune for just one drop. But then, the light went out.”

 _Definitely_ Ego. He’d died, and this jerk had lost his best money making scam.

“I need you to find him,” he said.

“Alive or dead?” Rocket asked. He could probably scrounge up some of the remaining rocks.

The client looked shocked. “Alive, of course! I wouldn’t ask you to kill a Celestial! For one thing, I’m not sure if mere mortals could kill them. I doubt an _army_ could defeat them, let alone any resources _you_ could put together.”

Rocket grinned smugly.

“For another, I don’t want to harm him, just keep him to refresh the supply of blood.”

“But what if he’s already dead?”

“I doubt that. They’re nearly impossible to kill.”

“Nearly.” Rocket’s grin widened.

“True. I will pay you ten thousand in advance, to cover search expenses. Find proof of death, you keep it. Bring him back alive, you get one million units. Take the money and don’t keep your end of the bargain, and you _will_ die slowly, screaming in agony.”

“Yeah, yeah, got it.” Rocket technically _did_ die screaming once, but it was back the he was in the lab, and he’d been revived. He had made backup plans so it would never happen again.

“Good. Here is a photo of the Celestial, before he was taken from me by a pack of Ravagers.” He pulled up a picture of a small, dirty-looking boy. “Based on the responses, I believe I had an actual juvenile. He went by the name Bee-dur. This was more than twenty-five years ago, but their species lives so long I doubt he’s reached maturity by now.”

Maturity? Definitely not, Rocket thought, looking at the picture. Just his luck, the Celestial this freak was hunting had to be Quill.

“He also went by Star Lord.”

Rocket briefly contemplated what he could do with a million units, then regretfully decided to do the right thing.

He’d take the job, run out on the client, and hope he didn’t get caught.

“Sure,” he said. “Kid like that, I bet I could track him down.”

“Be careful. He may be young, but he is connected to vast cosmic powers and unfathomable wisdom. Do _not_ underestimate him.”

—

Peter was standing in the galley of the Milano, a lighter held near his butt, desperately trying to muster up a fart.

“You are stalling,” said Drax.

“No, it’s coming. I swear, it’ll be cool.”

“This is a bluff,” said Drax. “No species can survive with combustible gas in their intestinal tract.”

“No, this is totally real! My uncle used to do it after a few beers! Watch!”

“Watch what?” Mantis walked in.

Peter took the lighter away from his butt. “Nothing.” Just then, the fart let loose.

“Quill claims he has flammable gases inside his butt,” said Drax. “He was going to light one on fire as it escaped.”

“Dude!” Peter turned to Drax. “You don’t talk about farts in front of girls!”

Drax gave a puzzled frown. “Why not? Surely, if the male of a species generates intestinal gasses, a female would have a similar intestinal tract.”

“You just don’t. Girls hate farts!”

“On the contrary, it sounds like an interesting scientific demonstration,” said Mantis. “I would like to see it.”

“I can’t do it now!” Peter squirmed uncomfortably. “I…missed my chance.”

Drax sniffed the air. “Indeed. He has released the gasses.”

Mantis inhaled deeply. “I can smell it!”, she said with a delighted grin. “It is truly disgusting!”

“Quill excels at producing disgusting smells. I suspect that is the primary way his species defended themselves before the invention of the blaster.”

Just then, Gamora popped into . “There is a call for you,” she said. “Denarian Dey from Nova Corps. He wanted to discuss a job.”

“Good timing,” said Peter. “We need money for ship maintenance. With all the parts Rocket’s been scrounging, our atmospherics are held together with spit and chewing gum.”

“That does not make sense,” said Drax. “Chewing gum is of limited usefulness as an adhesive, and spit would be even less effective.”

“So we are not going to see the scientific demonstration of his flammable gases?” Mantis asked.

Gamora frowned. “What is going on here?”

“Nothing,” said Peter. “Nothing at all. I’m totally a normal adult, and nothing gross or weird was going on at all.”

He walked out.

—

“Yo,” said Peter. “What’s up?”

“Yo?” “Terran greeting.”

Dey gave a very serious nod. “Yo, Star Lord. What is up is that Nova Corps could use the assistance of the Guardians of the Galaxy on a delicate matter of galactic importance. If you could come to Nova Prime, my colleague Aooo Eiaua can brief you in detail.”

“Cool, we could probably fit you into the schedule. Um, on the whole matter of money? Like I don’t want to be a dick or nothing, and be all only in it for the money, but if I don’t have the units to keep my ship running, I can’t keep saving the galaxy.”

He was pretty sure he’d saved the entire _universe_ last time, and he hadn’t been paid at _all_.

“We’ll come to a suitable arrangements,”

“Excellent! See you soon.” Peter closed the call. That name, Aooo…why did it sound familiar?

Aooo, Aooo… Peter snapped his fingers.

Now he remembered. Aooo, Aooo, Werewolves of London. Warren Zevon, 1978.

It was his new favorite song on the Zune.

He reached into his pocket and pulled out his headphones.


	2. Chapter 2

“I am Groot?”

“I told you, no jobs for a week! If I can’t trust you to do your chores, how can I trust you in a battle?”

“I am Groot!”

“Yeah, I know, _I’m_ the bad guy here. It’s not like having functioning air vents are _important_ , and clearing your tendrils out of them keeps us all from _dying_. I’m _clearly_ doing this just to be mean.”

“I am Groot.”

“You think talking to me like that is gonna change my mind? Stay on the ship, and don’t touch the coms unless there’s an emergency. And _no_ , bored _doesn’t_ count as an emergency.”

“I am Groot.”

“Neither does being out of good snacks. Why do you need snacks, anyway? You basically live on sunlight!”

“I am Groot.”

“Whatever. Rocket can deal with your attitude.” Peter gave up and walked away.

—

“Thank you for coming,” said Rhomann Dey. “This is kind of an unusual situation. I’ll let Aooo explain it.”

A sparkly jellyfish-looking woman in Nova Corp uniform stepped forward. She looked very…familiar. “Hello. And it is an honor to meet the heroes who defeated Ronan the Accuser and saved Nova Prime.”

Peter tilted his head. “Aooo?”

“Actually, it’s pronounced Aooo,” corrected Dey.

“Oh my God, Aooo! It’s _me_! _Peter_!”

Aooo looked at Peter. “Bee-Dur?”

“It’s Peter,” Drax corrected.

“It’s _you_!” She rushed forward and gave Peter a surprisingly intense hug. “I thought you were dead by now! Did you escape the Ravagers?”

“Um, long story. Have you met my team?” He turned. “This is Gamora.”

“Pleased to meet you.” She reached out and shook Aooo’s hand. Aooo gave her an odd look.

“This is Drax.”

“Hello,” said Drax. “Your conversation confused me and I have many questions.”

Aooo shook Drax’s hand, still looking uncomfortable.

“This is Mantis. She can sense your feelings if she touches you, so up to you if you want to shake hands.”

“It turns out many beings wish to conceal their emotional states,” said Mantis. She gave a friendly nod, which Aooo returned.

“Rocket and Groot are out on a job,” said Peter. He scratched his nose, which was the “Yes I’m lying, but don’t correct me,” signal for Drax.

Drax stared at him, and gave him a meaningful nod. It was about as subtle as a thrown brick, but at least he wasn’t blurting anything out this time.

“You and Peter seem to know each other well,” said Gamora.

“He saved my life when we were children,” said Aooo. “We were captured by Zilnor. If not for Peter, I would have been dissected and murdered."

That got several shocked looks. Peter tried to remember Zilnor. Orange bug guy? It was hard to keep track of every time someone had tried to capture him.

“Who is Zilnor?” Mantis asked.

Dey looked up. “He is a researcher and dealer in illegal biological substances. Extracts from the tissue of sentient beings. His victims…they rarely survive. He made his fortune on this.” He pulled out a tube of a pale blue liquid. “He’s been selling it for about twenty years now. It gives people connections to cosmic wisdom, and in high enough doses, temporary enhanced abilities - they can move objects with their mind, recover from seemingly fatal injuries, survive being dumped into deep space. You can imagine what people would pay for that. It’s a biological extract of some incredibly ancient and powerful species. It’s too processed to get a definitive match, but it seems to be most closely related to biological tissue from Knowhere. Two months ago, Zilnor’s entire supply stopped working. Whatever being he took it from seems to have escaped, and he’s hired an army of bounty hunters to track it down.”

 _Crap_ , Peter thought. He had a pretty good guess what the blue stuff was. Zilnor had taken his blood and suddenly gotten rich off a glowy blue thing that gave people Celestial powers? And it crapped out _right_ when Peter lost his own powers after killing Ego?

This was going to get awkward.

“You want us to kill this Zilnor?” Drax asked. “I would be honored to end the life of a cowardly murderer, particularly one who has harmed children.”

“No!” said Dey. “Nova Corps doesn’t hire assassins!”

“Gamora is an assassin,” said Drax.

“Was,” said Peter. “Not anymore.”

“If we do not accept payment,” asked Drax, “then it would be acceptable to kill the murderer of children? I would be willing to do that for free.”

“No, Nova Corps is absolutely _not_ asking you to kill him.”

“Although if you need to,” said Aooo, “we won’t lose any sleep over it.”

“Millennial Eiaua, if you talk like that again, you _will_ get an official reprimand. Nova Corps does _not_ ask, suggest, or hint we want anyone killed. We are in no way, shape, or form encouraging you to kill Zilnor.”

“We killed Ronan,” said Drax. “That was acceptable. We killed many Sikaran soldiers as well.”

“We can kill people only if it is necessary to do so in order to save others,” said Gamora. “I will explain in detail later.”

“Do so,” said Drax. “This is _very_ confusing.”

“Anyway,” said Peter, “What do you want from my team?”

“Find the being in question before Zilnor does,” said Dey. “It’s outside Zandarian territory, so we can’t operate freely, but, particularly after that strange biological attack two months ago, we’ve been authorized to monitor unusual threats. If this being is aggressive, it could be a threat to the galaxy.”

 _The universe_ , Peter thought. He had an uncomfortable flash of memory of a spike of energy through his chest, and being drained to fuel something hungry and expanding. But that was all gone. And while bits of it had been cool, Peter was relieved to not have vast cosmic powers other people could use to destroy planets. Even if he _did_ go through way more medical supplies this way.

“Don’t attack it unless necessary,” said Aooo. “Whatever being we’re looking at, it’s most likely the victim here. If we can resolve it peacefully, that would be best.”

Gamora looked at Peter. “I believe a peaceful resolution should be possible.” She took the vial and looked at it thoughtfully. “If I’m correct about who this comes from, he poses no threat to the innocent.”

She tossed the vial to Peter.

He caught it.

In his hand, it developed a faint blue glow.

Everyone in the room turned and looked at him.

“Um, yeah,” said Peter. “I was getting to that bit.”

—

“You’re half Celestial?” asked Rhomann Dey.

“Yep.”

“ _You_?”

“Yes!”, said Peter, somewhat defensively.

“Is that why you’re called Star Prince?”

“No!” Peter paused. “Well, sort of. And it’s Star Lord.”

“His father attempted to devour all life in the universe, so we killed him,” said Drax. “Was it permissible to kill in those circumstances?”

“Yes,” said Gamora.

“Of course!”, said Aooo.

Drax nodded. “Perhaps someone can provide a list of rules.”

Aooo put a hand on Peter’s shoulder. “You had to kill your father to save the universe? That must have been so hard.”

“His father was a being of great evil,” said Drax. “He killed Quill’s mother, and thousands of his brothers and sisters. He only spared Quill because Quill was the only one of his progeny who could channel Celestial powers, and could therefore be drained as a living battery.”

“Oh, Bee-Dur!”

“His name is pronounced _Peter_ ,” said Gamora.

“Um, yeah, all that happened," Peter said.  "But I don’t have any powers any more.” He looked at the vial. “At least I don’t think so. Anyway, threat to the galaxy resolved. I don’t destroy planets.”

“What about…” Drax began.

“I don’t destroy planets unless they’re evil sentient planets trying to kill the rest of the universe,” Peter said.

“This is definitely much less of a concern,” said Dey. “I’ll discuss this with Nova Prime. Would you mind waiting for a day?”

“I have no objection,” said Drax.

“Fine by me,” said Peter.

“Great!” Aooo squeezed Peter’s hand. “And we can go out to dinner and catch up!”

“Sounds good!” Peter glanced up at Gamora. “As friends. It’s always nice to catch up with an old friend, in a friendly way. Gamora, would you like to come and join us for this this friendly conversation?”

“No, thank you,” said Gamora. “I have an urgent matter.”

—

The waiter at the restaurant gave Peter’s Ravager coat a definite look, but led him to the table.

“Bee-Dur!” Aooo stood up and gave him a hug. She was apparently very into hugging.

It was nice, actually. He didn’t get many hugs. He didn’t exactly have the touchy-feeliest friends on his crew.

He hugged her and sat down. “So, this place looks nice.”

“I know the chef. I even got him to make that food you told me about, bisa!”

The waiter came back, with a pizza.

“Pizza! This is amazing!” Peter pulled off a slice, and took a bite. He paused a moment, then chewed and swallowed.

Yeah, that tasted _nothing_ like pizza.

“How is it?” Aooo asked, having just finished a bite of her own slice.

“Good.” He took another bite. “Very good.” It wasn’t actually _that_ bad, it was just…not even a little bit like pizza.

Aooo took another bite. “Mmm, the food of your people is delicious.”

“Thanks.” Peter ate more and forced a smile.

“I am so glad to see you. My uncle tried to persuade that Ravager to release you when he released me, but he wouldn’t even discuss the price. Did he sell you to someone else?”

“No, he kept me,” said Peter. “He raised me, actually.”

Aooo got the worried face again. “You were raised by _Yondu Udanta_?”

“Yeah.”

“He was banished from _Ravager_ society for crimes against children!  He stole twenty-seven children, and none were ever seen again!”

“He didn’t know.” Peter ducked his head. “They were all Ego’s kids.”

“Your siblings.”

“Yeah, I guess. I didn’t know any of them.” Peter still couldn’t wrap his head around that bit. He’d always wanted a brother or sister, and apparently he’d had a _lot_ of them, but they were all killed by his evil dad before he met them.

He was going to figure out how he felt about that one day. In the future. Preferably while _extremely_ drunk.

“Anyway, Yondu thought he was being hired to reunite kids with their father.” Also, the money was probably enough to keep Yondu from asking too many questions, but Peter didn’t want to get into that part. Yondu had died saving Peter, so it seemed petty to mention the bad stuff. “When he found out, he already had me on board. My mom had died, he obviously couldn’t take me to my father, and if he took me back to Earth, Ego would probably just send another crew to grab me. So he kept me. Kept me safe, taught me to fly, taught me to fight, everything I needed to know.”

“Taught you to steal,” said Aooo, disapprovingly.

“Hey, a Ravager’s got to make a living. Anyway, without the skills he taught me, I don’t think I could have saved the galaxy.”

“He threatened to eat you, though.”

Peter laughed. “That was his idea of a joke.”

—

“You know,” said Aooo, grinning, “you were the first person I kissed.”

“I remember,” said Peter. He’d heard “Quill’s got a girlfriend” around the ship for days. That was when he’d started being a lot less afraid of them. It was hard to stay frightened when everyone was making the same kind of jokes as the kids on his school playground.

“I nearly kissed you on the mouth, but I got shy.” She started to lean forward. “I’m not shy anymore.”

Peter pulled his head back, and put up a hand. “Aooo, you’re great, but Gamora and I kind of have a thing.”

“You’re together?” Aooo gave Peter a look.

This was awkward. “Not…exactly. We kind of have this unspoken thing. It’s very Sam and Diane…never mind, forget about that bit. I like her, and I’m pretty sure she likes me but…her life’s been really messed up, and I don’t think she really knows what to do when people actually like her and aren’t trying to make her murder people.”

“ _Gamora_ , though?” Aooo put her hands on Peter’s. “I know you’ve been through a lot, but you can do better.”

Peter snorted. “Better than _Gamora_? Yeah, right.”

“You can, though. She’s a killer. She was Thanos’s killer, and then Ronan’s. I’m glad you were able to reform her, and I’m sure she’s useful, but you don’t go from a monster to good person overnight.”

Peter shook his head. “Gamora, she’s…you got it backwards. She’s the bravest, smartest, most awesome person I know. She’s the reason I…”

There was a familiar sensation on the back of his head. He trailed off and looked at Aooo. “Did someone just put a gun to my head?”

Aooo nodded.

“Thought so.” Peter slowly put his hands up. “Hey there…you with the gun. I think there’s some kind of misunderstanding.”

“Star Lord?”

“Who’s asking?” Peter asked.

In spite of everything, it was nice to have someone get his nickname right.

“The guy who’s about to blast a hole in your head, and then your girl’s, if you don’t answer. _Are_ you Star Lord?”

“Yes, that’s me. Look, whatever this is, I’m sure we can work it out.” Peter was scanning the table for weapons. The knife might work, if he had a good distraction, but he’d have to be really lucky.

Peter heard something hard hit the floor, and then everything went dark.


	3. Chapter 3

“Is that your gig now?”, asked Kucida. “Bounty hunting?”

Gamora shook her head. “It’s a favor for a friend.” She was going to find out as much as she could about the people chasing Peter before they showed up to attack. It would keep the crew safe. “Any word on who’s on the trail?”

“Scary crowd. Telos, Stunner Kime, Funu, Lipe and Kape, and rumor has it they even managed to hire Rocket and Groot.”

Gamora shook her head. “Not the last two.”

Groot was still on the ship and Rocket…was on a private job. But he wouldn’t do _that_. He wouldn't betray Peter for money.

 _Would_ he?

Gamora felt a sinking feeling in her stomach.

“You know something?”

“I know them.”

“Nice.” Kucida grinned. “If they’re ever looking for work, I could put a few jobs their way.”

“It would depend on the specifics.” They were willing to take any job that was moral and legal, and were a bit flexible on the second point. (Rocket wasn't inclined to be strict on the first point, unless the rest of the crew kept an eye on him.)

Just then, Gamora’s bracelet chirped. “I have a call.”

Drax’s face appeared. “It is Quill. He was captured by a bounty hunter while having dinner with that woman Aooo who kept embracing him enthusiastically.”

“I will be right there.” She looked at Kucida. “I have to go.”

—

“You lost him!” Gamora snapped at Aooo. “A Nova Corps Millenial who can’t fight a solitary bounty hunter?”

Aooo looked down. “He had a gun to Bee-Dur’s head before I realized what he was doing. I couldn’t make a move without putting Bee-Dur at risk. And then he dropped the stun grenade, and when I woke up, Bee-Dur was gone.”

Gamora swallowed down her rage. “His name is _Peter_. And we have to find him fast. Tell Denarian Dey we’re leaving. Can you at least do _that_?”

Aooo gave Gamora an angry look. “I will go with you. He was kidnapped on Xandar, which means Nova Corps has jurisdiction.”

“We don’t have time to let you slow us down.”

“I am a trained investigator. What are you trained in, except killing?”

Gamora fought back the urge to hit her. “It’s _our_ ship. We’re not wasting time bringing you.”

“I have a right to commandeer a vehicle if there’s an urgent need to protect someone in danger, and right now, that’s very true.” Aooo drew a deep breath. “I’m not doing that, at least not yet. I’m asking you to cooperate. For Bee-Dur’s sake.”

“Fine,” said Gamora. “For Peter’s sake. But don’t get in my way.”

—

The bad news was Stunner Kine had a faster ship than they did.

Gamora cursed the controls as she laid out her course. She’d trained as a pilot, of course, and was perfectly competent, but competent was all she was.

 Rocket flew the same way he built weapons, with an insane genius that was constantly on the verge of killing them all, but somehow ended up just lucky enough to let them do the impossible. If he’d been there, with them, Gamora was sure he’d have found a trick to catch up with Kine and get to Peter in time.

(Peter might have been able to overtake the ship. He didn’t seem to realize it, but he flew better than Gamora, at least on an M-ship. He’d been flying them for twenty years, and had learned a string of Ravager tricks to get the most out of the ship. Gamora had been rushed through a series of lessons, ensuring she could be an adequate pilot on all of the most common ship types. The lesson she’d received on how to overtake a faster ship had been “Find a faster ship, murder the crew, and claim it as your own.”)

—

“There is a signal,” said Mantis.

“Is it the ship?” Gamora asked.

“No. It is a distress signal. A life form who has been left on an asteroid in a space suit.”

“We don’t have time to waste.”

Aooo gave Gamora a shocked look. “If someone is stranded on an asteroid, they need help before their air runs out.”

“What if we lose Peter chasing after some stranger?”

“We’ve already lost track of Bee-Dur. Do you see any trace of the ship? We’re not going to leave some poor stranded spacer to die.”

“The person signaling has given their name,” said Mantis. “It is Stunner Kine.”

Gamora and Aooo exchanged looks.

“Fine,” said Gamora. “We’ll get him.”

—

“So glad you found me, girl,” said Kine to Mantis, as soon as he got his helmet off. “I thought I was…”

He looked at Gamora and swallowed hard. “Um, dead.”

“Not if you cooperate,” Gamora said.

“He wasn’t lying, then?”

“What?”

“Star Lord. The bounty. He told me that Gamora…the Gamora…well, you miss, were in love with him and would track down anyone who harmed him. I thought he was talking nonsense, the way many do when you grab them. But it was true, then?”

Gamora ignored the question. “ _Did_ you harm him?”

Kine put his hands up, all six eyes wide with his best attempt at innocence. “I swear, miss, only tied him up and stunned him. I run a clean operation, you know that. Bring them back alive.”

Gamora snatched a knife from Drax’s belt and swung it towards Kine’s eyes, stopping when it was just shy of Kine’s central eyeball. “Where is he?”

Kine began trembling. “I was taking him to Zilnor, when he was snatched!”

“Snatched?”

“Another bounty hunter. Poaching on my territory. I tried to protect Star Lord, but I was hopelessly out-gunned! He stole my bounty and my ship.”

“Who?” Gamora’s hand clenched tighter around the knife’s hilt.

“He goes by the name Rocket.”

—

“Subject 88P13?” Aooo asked.

“Do _not_ call him that.” It was understood among the Guardians of the Galaxy that whatever happened, however ugly things got, _no one_ would call him that. They could argue, insult each other, and get into all kinds of fights, but there were certain lines they would not cross. They could insult Drax and his obsession with avenging his family, but no one could utter a negative word about his wife and daughter. No matter how irritated anyone was with Peter, they would not harm or threaten his music. Gamora was _never_ referred to as the daughter of Thanos. _No one_ skipped out on their duty to ensure Groot was looked after. If they made a joke in front of Mantis that she didn’t understand, _someone_ would take the time to explain it to her. And no one called Rocket Subject 89P13.

Aooo blinked in surprise. “Nova records…”

“Are wrong. His name is Rocket, and you will refer to him as such. Questions?”

“Why hasn’t he brought Bee-Dur back?”

“Peter. And I don’t know. I’ll ask that as soon as I find him.”

—

“Hey, Greenie, give me permission to board. I need weapons fast.”

Gamora tapped the com button. “Where is Peter?”

“That’s why I need the weapons. I’ll explain on board.”

—

Gamora glared down at Rocket. “Talk.”

Rocket was rapidly modifying mechanical components as he spoke. “Quill was grabbed by Zilnor.”

“You _sold_ him!”

“Don’t worry, I’m planning to steal him back. That way we get Quill _and_ a million units.”

With a cry of rage, Gamora grabbed Rocket by the throat and shoved him against the wall. “You _sold_ him, you treacherous rodent!” If Peter was hurt...

A hand gently, but firmly touched Gamora’s shoulder. “I am Groot.”

“He betrayed Peter!”

“I am Groot?”

“I didn’t!” Rocket spat. “It wasn’t my idea! It was Quill’s!” He looked up at Groot.

“I am Groot.” “Fine, he can explain.” Gamora set him down. “But lie to me, you vile little...trash panda, and Drax will be roasting you over a flame-pit for dinner.”

Rocket rubbed his throat and looked down. “I took the job, yeah. But only to screw over the client and make an easy ten thousand. But Zilnor sent escorts to pick up the bounty. I was ready to fight them, but Quill turned himself in. He’s…what do you call stupid, but like to save other people?”

“I am Groot.”

“Heroic, yeah. He’s stupidly heroic. You know him.”

Gamora sighed. She did.

—

_Earlier_

“You have no idea how screwed you are,” said Peter.

Kine frowned. “I don’t know what you _think_ this is, but I can promise you, this is not sexual.”

“Sexual?”

“You kept offering to screw me? I mean I know your reputation, but...”

“No, I didn’t mean screw you as in...I meant like screw you! Like you’re _screwed_! Like the _bad_ kind of screwed!”

Kine devoted all six eyes to giving Peter a confused stare.

“Like you made a mistake! A bad mistake, and you will regret it!”

“Oh.” Kine let out a bored sigh and turned back to the ship controls.

Peter thought frantically. Kine had put him in a restraint chair, so he couldn’t get his hand over to his pocket or his boot, where he kept his lock picks, let alone his weapon. The only chance he had was to talk his way out of it.

“You know Gamora?”

Kine paused and spared a couple of eyes to look at Peter.

“Yeah, _that_ Gamora. Living weapon. Thanos’s favorite assassin. Could probably take you to pieces faster than you could blink.” Peter briefly wondered if it took longer to blink six eyes. “Well, we’re in love. She’s probably tracking you down right now. If you let me go, I’ll try to talk her into sparing your life. If you actually deliver me back to Xandar with an apology, there’s a ninety percent chance she’ll let you go.”

“Okay,” said Kine, “That was creative. _Implausible_ , but creative.”

“How was that implausible?”

“ _Gamora_? In _love_? With _you_?”

“Why couldn’t Gamora be in love with me?”

“You’re...”. Kine gestured a casual flipper. “Well, I don’t even know _what_ you are, but you’re weird and goofy and you weren’t that hard to overpower, and now you’re trying to bluff your way out of the situation, which suggests you’re pretty weak. Why would one of the greatest warriors in the galaxy ever fall in love with _you_?”

“Hey, I saved the galaxy! Twice!”

Kine’s rearmost flipper made a dismissive gesture. “See? That’s even _more_ ridiculous! You have _got_ to work on your plausibility.”

“Who do you think defeated Ronan the Accuser?”

“I heard it was Drax the Destroyer.”

“Drax? He...well, he was _there_ , but I led the team! We’re the Guardians of the Galaxy!”

“ _You_ led a team with Drax the Destroyer against Ronan the Accuser?” Kine asked. “Was Gamora there?”

“As a matter of fact, she was.”

Kine snorted. “If you survive whatever this Zilnor wants with you, you could have a good career writing holo-fic.”

—

About four hours later, the lights on the ship went out. The engine was still running, but the interior had gone dark. Kine began frantically flipping switches. The lights didn’t come back on. The ship began to speed up, and move in a slow turn. Kine yanked frantically on the steering yoke, but it wouldn’t budge.

“Something wrong?” Peter asked.

“Someone else is running the controls.”

The coms flicked to life.

Music began playing. “As your bony fingers close around me, long and spindly death becomes me, heaven can you see what I see?”

Depeche Mode. Dream On. 2001.

Peter smiled.

“What is that?” Kime yelled. He flicked the com buttons.

“Attention, the idiot who stole my bounty. This is Rocket.”

Kime went silver with fear.

“I have control of your ship. Now we have two ways that this can go down, the easy way or the hard way. The easy way is I take your bounty and your ship. You get to wait in the nearest astroid. I’m feeling generous, so I’m giving you a suit and an emergency beacon. If you’re lucky, you _might_ even make it out alive.”

There was a pause, and Kime went almost blindingly white.

“Now let me tell you about the hard way. First I take a knife...”

—

Five minutes and one short round of vomiting later, Kine was suited up and rushing to the coms. “I’m ready! I’m in the suit! I’ve got the ship piloted for the nearest asteroid! Please, I’m complying!”

There was a pause, and then Rocket spoke. “And the bounty?”

“Tied up on the bridge.”

Another pause, during which Kime stood at the bridge, twitchy and iridescent.

Peter was pretty sure Rocket was doing it on purpose.

And then finally, “That is acceptable. You land on the asteroid, you turn your back on the ship, and you wait exactly eight minutes before activating the beacon.”

Kime nodded frantically. “Yes, sir. On my way sir.”

He turned to Peter. “I’m sorry. I don’t want to leave you with _him_ , but it’s you or me.”

Peter tried not to laugh.

—

No sooner did the ship door close behind Kime than Rocket popped out of a ceiling panel, laughing hysterically. “Did you see the look on his face? He was so scared! ‘Oh no, he might disembowel me! Better run away!’ D’ast weakling. Have fun on the dead asteroid, idiot!”

Peter smiled. “That was pretty impressive. If I didn’t know you, I’d have been scared, too.”

“Oh, don’t worry, I’d never do that to _you_ ,” said Rocket. “You’re almost kind of a bit like a friend to me, or at least a pet. If I ever decide to take _you_ out, it’ll be one clean shot. Bam! You won’t even feel it!” He gave a big friendly grin.

“...thanks?” Peter squirmed. “Can you untie me?”

“After we get out of here.” Rocket started the engines. “So, how’d you get grabbed by an amateur like Kime? I figured he’d think you’re even more stupid than you actually are, and you’d slip away. You know a couple of good tricks.”

From Rocket, that was practically a compliment. Peter stifled a smile. “I was having dinner with...an old friend. Kime came up behind. I didn’t even know there was a bounty on me.”

“Big one. A million units.” The ship took off.

“A million?” Peter whistled. “I can’t think of anyone I pissed off that much.”

“Some science jerk. He stole your blood when you were a kid, and apparently it’s worth a lot of money, so he wants you back so he can get more of it.” Rocket programmed a course.

“Zilnor?” Peter shook his head. “Man, I don’t hear _anything_ about him for twenty-five years, and then suddenly he’s everywhere.”

Rocket turned back to Peter. “How many times _did_ you get kidnapped as a child, anyway?”

“Not that many.” Peter thought. “Four. Wait, does it still count if you do it on purpose? In that case, seventeen. Yondu and I had this scheme where we’d convince everyone I was a prince of some obscure planet and after they kidnapped me I’d shut down their security system and we’d clean them out.”

“Good scam.” Rocket pulled out a knife larger than his arm. “Let me just get those ropes off. Whatever you do, Humie, don’t move.”

—

Rocket stood over the navigation computer, muttering.

“What’s wrong?” Peter asked. He’d just gotten back from raiding the ship’s first-aid supplies for skin-glue. (One continuous annoyance of outer space was that no one made cool dinosaur band-aids.)

“The computer screwed up the d’ast jumps! I was trying to backtrack so we could find Gamora, who’s probably following Kine’s ship to come rescue you.”

“She is?” Peter smiled.

Rocket gave Peter a dirty look. “Anyway, that idiot Kine has his route tracks all out of order. He sorted them by fuel consumption! Who _does_ that? Long story short, we’re in Zilnor’s territory, and we need to get out fast.”

There was a polite ping on the ship’s coms.

“That’s probably Gamora.” Peter stepped forward to answer it.

Rocket put a paw up, then pressed the button. “Who is this?"

“Is this Kine?” Rocket let out a derisive snort. “It’s Kine’s ship. Well, it used to be Kine’s ship.”

“Ah.” There was a pause, and a light flashed through the ship. “Judging by your size, you’re Rocket, correct? And the being with you is the Star Lord.”

Rocket got a nervous look. “The Star Lord?”

“Don’t try to renegotiate terms. My scan was quite definitive. We agreed on a million units, so I expect you to fly him peacefully to my fortress and hand him over. I’ve sent some of my security force to escort you, to ensure such valuable cargo doesn’t get lost.”

Rocket glanced down at the short-range scanner. “I’m coming. I’m just surprised you want this loser. He doesn’t look impressive.”

“Hopefully, what he looks like to you is one million units.” Rocket dropped the call and began frantically flipping switches.

Peter swallowed hard. “That doesn’t sound like good news.”

“Quill, hit the weapons locker. I know Kine was all about the stunners, but he has to have _something_ lethal in here. If we’re lucky, we’ll be able to take out one of the escorts, and the others will board us, trying to take you alive.”

Peter stepped over and checked the scanner. They were already surrounded. “Rocket, is this the kind of fight we get out of alive?”

“I hear yapping, when I should be hearing the sound of you bringing me large quantities of weapons.”

Peter squatted down and put a hand on Rocket’s shoulder. “Rocket. The truth. Can we fight our way out of this one?”

“Maybe,” said Rocket. He looked down. “Maybe one of us will make it out alive.”

“And if we play along and he grabs me? He’ll let you go?”

“Probably. He’s not trying to keep a secret. He told way too many bounty hunters to hide it. And it’s bad for his rep if I don’t come back. Plus, he knows Groot would come looking for me. But you...”

Peter bit his lip. “He’s not going to kill me, right? He wants my blood and it’s easier to keep getting if I’m alive?”

“No, he won’t kill you. He’ll do _worse_!”

“Worse?”

“He’s going to keep you in his frikkin lab and do things to you. You think I’d let anyone do _that_ to you? You may be a pain in the ass, humie, but not enough for me to let you be some frikkin lab rat! No, we go down fighting.” He turned and reached for the ship’s guns.

Peter put out a hand on his arm. “Rocket, look at me.”

Rocket looked.

“This isn’t the same lab. It’s not like where you were. I’ll be fine.” He smiled. “I actually remember this guy from when I was a kid. He just wants blood samples. A couple of needle sticks. Nothing to worry about.”

Zilnor _had_ been planning to sell Aooo in pieces, but Peter didn't think this was the best time to mention that. “So you play along, go get the rest of the crew, and you tear this place to bits. Everyone gets out alive. Well, all of _us_ definitely get out alive.”

Rocket looked hesitant.

“Come on, it’s the smart play. Plus, we could use those million units for the ship.”

“What makes you think I’m sharing?” Rocket muttered. He looked up. “A couple of needle sticks? That’s all?”

“Yeah, nothing to worry about.”

“Okay.” Rocket turned. “I’m taking the ship in. And when we come and get you, let me know if...let me know how much that scumbag deserves to hurt.”

He steered the ship towards the central fortress.

—

Gamora stood down, breathing slowly. He _hadn’t_ betrayed Peter. Peter was being stupidly noble and likely to get himself killed. She should have guessed. He would suddenly break out in heroic tendencies at the most inconvenient times.

She drew a deep breath. She needed to be as clear-headed as possible to bring Peter back. “Rocket,” she said. “I am sorry. That was wrong. I should not have attacked you like that.”

It _was_ unfair, and also she wanted to ensure that Rocket wasn’t harboring a grudge when they went to get Peter. She wanted Zilnor and his base to receive Rocket’s _full_ attention.

Rocket rubbed his throat. “You’re d’ast right it was! Next time, let me finish a frikkin sentence before you assume the worst.”

Gamora nodded. “I will trust you more next time.”

“And you and the humie hurry up and finish whatever frikkin mating ritual you’re doing so the rest of us don’t have to deal with your moods.”

“Rocket...”

“Just saying, if you two quit your mating dance and got on with things, you wouldn't be half as crazy. Anyway, what are we going to do about the lab? I vote we blow up everything.”

“First we need a plan to rescue Peter,” said Gamora. “We need to work strategically and discreetly, to ensure he’s not hurt.”

Rocket frowned.

“And _then_ we blow up everything.”

Rocket grinned. “Oh, yeah.”


	4. Chapter 4

“You know what you’re doing, right?” Aooo asked.

“Trust me, we have this covered.”

“Bee-dur’s life is on the line, and you’re entrusting his safety to...”

“To what?” Gamora snapped.

“To a gang of criminals! Thugs and killers!”

"All records have been expunged."

"You think that erases their past?  Or yours?"

Gamora glared at Aooo. “The only thing you need to know about my past is that it is over. I am not an assassin for Thanos, or for anyone, and all of my records have been expunged by Nova Corps, which means my past is not legally your concern. Now are you going to continue to wasting time?”

“Awfully easy for you,” said Aooo. “You can just quit and the slate is wiped clean and we’re all supposed to forget about it and move on?”

“It was _not_ easy, I have _no_ illusions about anything being wiped clean, and I _don’t_ expect anyone to forget. I expect someone who claims to be a professional to move _forward_ , and focus on saving Peter’s life, rather than endlessly arguing over the past.”

“See, that’s it! You found an emergency, and got everyone to move on! You were in the right place and the right time, and became hero of the galaxy! While I...”. Aooo abruptly broke off.

“While you what?”

“Never mind,” said Aooo. Her fronds were curling themselves in stress.

“No,” said Gamora, “ _you_ started this, and we are finishing it. While you what?”

Aooo looked down. “I spent my whole life trying to atone! Every day, since I was old enough to understand it, I’ve been trying to make up for what I did!”

Gamora furrowed her brow. “What was it you did?”

“Zilnor! I was his bait! I lurked six children to their deaths! It would have been more if Bee-dur hadn’t shown up when he did!”

Gamora blinked in confusion. “You're trying to atone for what you did while you were a _child_?”

“Child or not, they were just as dead. And I joined Nova Corp so it would never happen again, and I tried to find Bee-dur, but I couldn’t help him, and I’ve been working and working, and trying to get clean and no matter what I do it’s never enough! I never...I never feel clean. And you, you get the whole thing legally expunged and it all seems so easy!”

“I understand,” said Gamora.

Aooo turned away.  “How could you?”

“Thanos...he kidnapped me when I was a child. I was not as lucky as you. It took me a long time to find an opportunity to get away.” Gamora brushed her hair back. She was oversimplifying, but if she explained about Thanos in detail, it would become needlessly complicated. “Peter was...involved.”

Aooo looked up at Gamora in surprise.

“I don’t expect anyone to forget or forgive what I’ve done,” Gamora continued. Peter didn’t seem to blame her for _any_ of it, and sometimes that felt like more than she deserved. “But I hope that you will work with me to save Peter. And for what it’s worth, I do not think that having my record expunged undoes anything I have done.”

Aooo nodded. “Let’s save Bee-dur.”

Gamora stifled the urge to correct her pronunciation.  

—

“It’s good to see you again,” said Zilnor.

“I can’t say the same.” Peter had been right, Zilnor _was_ the orange bug guy.

“You’ve grown more quickly than I expected. Is this the normal growth pattern for your species?”

“Pretty much, yeah.” Peter didn’t know anything about normal growth for Celestials, but the longer he talked the less Zilnor was doing. “After about twenty years as a child, we form a pod, and then emerge in our adult forms. So you’re still after my blood?”

“Yes. The last batch had been extremely valuable, but unfortunately it now seems to be lacking something. I thought a new supply would enable me to discover the problem and reinvigorate the product.”

“What if I destroy the entire place with my powers?” Peter asked. If Zilnor thought he was a Celestial, he may as well try to get something out of it.

“I am assuming you either don’t care to do that or you are unable to, or you would not have been captured.”

Damn. Peter had hoped that would work.

“Now let’s get this started.” Zilnor glanced over at the guards. “Please watch him, he’s a sneaky one and may attempt escape.”

“Damn right I’ll attempt escape,” Peter said.

He totally was, too. Just as soon as he had any idea how.

The guards led Peter over to a padded chair that was tilted into a semi-reclined position, and then pushed him into the seat.

Zilnor readied the needle. It connected, via a tube, to an unpleasantly large tank.

 _A couple of needle sticks_ , Peter thought. He braced himself.

Zilnor took his arm and plunged the needle in.

—

When Peter came to, he was still in the chair. There was a tube still sticking out of his arm, but it seemed to connect to a tank of clear liquid.

He started to sit up, and then had to let himself drop again, because he felt overwhelmingly dizzy.

Zilnor was on the other side of the lab, wrong with the tank and muttering angrily.

Peter turned his head. As long as he didn’t have to lift it, he felt okay

“Forty percent,” Zilnor muttered. He turned to Peter. “Oh, you’re _finally_ conscious?”

Peter groaned. “Could you take your stupid bug face away? I have kind of a headache.” He had, in fact, a truly nasty headache, on top of feeling dizzy and drained.

“You have severe hypovolemia.” Zilnor stepped over to Peter and stood over him, fiddling with the tank. “It took a mere forty percent, and not only were you unconscious, you started having cardiac irregularities and breathing difficulties! I had to provide intravenous rehydration and your system is still functioning poorly. You’re going to be useless all day.”

“Well maybe if you want me to _do_ stuff, don’t take nearly half my blood!”

“I took a mere _forty percent_! Why are you so weak?”

“Forty percent is a lot of blood!” Peter yelled. He sat up carefully. He still felt dizzy, but he didn’t want Zilnor standing over him like that.

“You could lose more than that as a child and still have the energy to run around making an obnoxious amount of noise!”

“Oh boo hoo! You kidnap children, you kidnap me, you steal a bunch of my blood, and I’m supposed to feel bad for you?” Sitting up and yelling was a lot of work. Peter lay back on the chair again so he could have the energy for more yelling.

“I don’t care how you _feel_ , I care that your blood has gone all weak and useless!”

“It’s useful inside my body! Maybe you should, I don’t know, leave it there?”

“Are you even a Celestial? Are you Bee-dur, or are you some sort of distraction?”

“Yeah, you caught me,” said Peter. “I’m a distraction. That Celestial, Bee-dur, hired me to pretend to be him. So maybe you can let me go now that you can see how magic I’m not, and it won’t be necessary for Bee-due to destroy you with his vast cosmic powers?”

“Your blood seems to match. I’m going to test further to see if it’s some kind of trick.”

—

Zilnor had clearly done some cell redesign since Peter’s escape. The air came in through several small vents, none of which were any bigger than Peter’s arm.

There was a big bottle of that nasty black drink.

Peter tried the grate anyway. It didn’t come loose, and he couldn’t see how it was fastened.

Peter bent over to remove his left boot and nearly blacked out. After two or three tries, he managed to get it off. _Yes_ , his electronic lock pick was still in the boot heel. He’d gotten it from Yondu back when he was a kid, and it opened all standard computerized locks. (In Peter’s experience, as long as he kept the software updated, it worked on about nine out of every ten locks.)

He put his shoe back on. Now he was going to have to master standing and walking to the door.

He sighed and took a big swig of the nasty black drink.

—

It turned out the door had a non-mechanical lock, with a mechanism that wasn’t accessible from the inside. _And_ the door was slightly recessed, so Peter didn’t have any luck with the thin wire he kept coiled up in his right boot.

Zilnor had done his homework.

—

“Look,” said Peter, as he was marched back into the chair, “I don’t know why you’re bothering. It’s not like I can make my blood be more like you want it. Not that I would if I could, because you’re a huge dick.”

“The tissue matches, but there’s only a fraction of the power. What happened?”

Peter shrugged. He had zero desire to explain the whole “My evil father with vast cosmic powers who was also a planet” thing to Zilnor.

“ _Something_ must have happened! You have to know! You would have sensed the loss of the powers!” Zilnor leaned in, hissing angrily. “I can make this very unpleasant for you. I know about the physiology of pain for a number of sentient beings. Yours would not be hard to discover.”

“Honestly, dude, I have no idea,” Peter said. He _hoped_ Zilnor was bluffing. “It all just...stopped. I don’t know why.”

“No others of your kind had an explanation?”

“I never _met_ any others of my kind!”, Peter lied. He decided to get emotional and really sell it. “I...I don’t know what happened, but I never did meet anyone else like me. It’s just been me, for as long as I can remember.” He made his voice sound sad and pained. “I always knew I could do things, but I didn’t know why. I didn’t know if I was an ordinary Xandarian who’d had something weird happen to him, or what. And then it just...stopped. I thought I was finally going to be normal.”

Hopefully that would work. It was a lot easier to sell a lie if you could sound good and upset.

“Well, I may be able to get some use out of your blood, but I’m going to have to extract a lot more to have any chance of creating a useful product. _And_ I’m going to have to go slower.” He pulled out the tube and fastened it to the tank. “I’m going to try removing thirty percent this time. With any luck, this should be a sustainable daily total.”

He stuck the needle back in Peter’s arm.

—

This time, when Peter woke up, it was to the sound of an explosion. He felt fuzzy as hell, but he mustered up the energy for a grin.

That would be his friends.


	5. Chapter 5

“I said create a distraction,” Gamora snapped at Rocket, “Not give away the location of our ship!”

“Explosions are very distracting! I, personally, have distracted _lots_ of people with explosions! I’ve never seen someone fail to be distracted!”

“I am Groot!”

“That’s right,”, Rocket agreed. “If you wanted us to avoid giving away the position of the ship, you should have specified!”

Gamora sighed and readied her weapons. “We’re going to need to charge in head-on and see if we can have a stealth team slip past them while the rest of the crew keeps them too occupied to search the rest of the base. Mantis is with me, Aooo, Rocket, Drax, and Groot are the distraction.”

“I want to go with you,” said Aooo. “I want to seer what condition Bee-dur is in.”

“We don’t have time for personal feelings. If it’s possible to bring him back, I will.”

“I can arrest Zilnor, if he’s alive. And I _do_ have training in armed and unarmed combat. Also, would you rather have an officer of the law watching what _you_ do, or what _Rocket_ does?”

That last part was an annoyingly good point.

“Aooo, you’re with me. Mantis, stay here with the rest of the crew.” Gamora wasn’t going to babysit more than one other person while going to rescue Peter.

“May I kill them?” Drax asked.

“If you need to. Try not to,” said Gamora.

“I am still confused about the rules around when it is and isn’t acceptable to kill,” said Drax.

“I am Groot.”

“Thank you, Groot,” said Drax. “That makes much more sense.”

“Everyone armed?” Gamora asked.

“I am,” said Aooo.

“My knives are at the ready.”

“You have no idea how many weapons I have ready.”

“I am Groot!”

“I...I do not have weapons,” said Mantis.

Gamora handed Mantis a blaster. “Point, touch here, and shoot. If you need to, hang back and stay near Drax.”

“I will protect her,” said Drax.

“Okay, fine. _Nothing_ else?”

“I am...” Groot started.

“Nothing else that’s so urgent it’s worth risking Peter’s life with another delay?”

Groot stopped and shook his head.

“ _Finally_ , here we go.”

—

The plan worked better than Gamora had hoped. She’d neutralized three soldiers and slipped past the bulk of the crowd, while Rocket was distracting everyone with a weapon approximately the size of his entire body.

Aooo was keeping up effectively. She was, Gamora had to admit, competent. After they’d passed the main security force, Gamora had quietly taken down three guards.

Down, not out.

( _Remember, child, you cannot trust that your opponent will stop until he’s dead. A live opponent can still fire a weapon or signal for help. Death is the only way to definitively end a fight. Do not be shy about death. Do not hesitate to kill. Everyone dies, and it can be the kindest, cleanest thing to bring death when it’s needed._ She wasn’t like that, though, she wasn’t who he’d made her. She was her own person, and she could choose not to kill.)

Now all they had to do was find Peter and try to get everyone out alive.

—

“You,” said Aooo, pointing to a fleeing man in a white jumpsuit, “Stop!”

The man stopped. “Don’t kill me, I only clean the floors!”

“Nova Corps.” Aooo flashed a badge. “I’m rescuing a kidnapping victim. If you point me to the lab, I’ll speak in favor of you at the trial.”

The man hesitated, looking around wildly.

“I’ll also tell you which way to run where the attackers _aren’t._ ”

The man nodded. “The lab, Zilnor’s lab, right? It’s straight down this corridor until you hit the second left, and then behind the black door.  His last subject died a week ago, though, so I don't think he has anyone at the moment.”

“Thank you,” said Aooo. “If you turn right, you’ll be far away from the attackers. They don’t intend to sweep through the base, so you should be safe.”

The man nodded, then ran down the corridor on the right.

Aooo glanced at Gamora. “Come on!” She ran ahead.

Gamora took off running, following Aooo. That wouldn’t have occurred to her. She would have gone directly to at least _threatening_ to hurt the man. She didn’t have the instinct to talk to people, unlike Aooo. Or Peter.

The thought that Aooo might have more in common with Peter than Gamora did left her strangely bothered.

—

Inside the lab stood an orange alien, tinkering with a large jug of blood.

Peter lay on a chair. He turned his head towards her as she walked in, and grinned. He was pale, and seemed to have trouble moving.

Gamora realized with a sickening feeling that the blood in the large jug was his.

“Nova Corps!”, Aooo shouted, drawing her weapon “You’re under arrest for kidnapping, assault, and non-consensual sale of biological extracts!”

Zilnor turned. “Is it...are you Aooo? Oh my, this is a reunion.” He stepped closer.

Aooo pointed her weapon at Zilnor. “I said freeze.”

“I remember you. I was fond of you. I used to like to buy you some sweet. Remember? You wanted to share it with Bee-dur, but he didn’t like it, so you got a double portion.”

Aooo’s weapon trembled.

“I was so sad when you ran away,” said Zilnor. “That boy filled you with lies and scared you into leaving with those awful Ravagers. I was worried about what they’d do you. Was it bad?”

“They took me to my uncle,” Aooo said, her voice faltering. “I said you’re under arrest!”

“I know,” said Zilnor. “Your uncle, was he nice?” He took a step closer, keeping his eyes keenly on Aooo.

“He was.”

“Good.” He took a step closer, and, with one of his lower arms, grabbed a vial of something. “I’m glad you had a good home.” He stepped forward, his lower left arm started to move...

Gamora slammed him into the wall. The vial shattered on the floor, and began eating away at it with a hissing noise.

Aooo gave Zilnor a stun-blast, and he dropped to the floor.

Gamora ran over to Peter. “Did he hurt you?”

“Not really,” said Peter. He tried to sit up and then slipped and fell black. “It’s...okay, i probably need more blood than I have in me right now, but I’ll be fine. Just give me a minute, and I’ll be up and ready to go.”

They had no time.

Gamora scooped Peter up in her arms. He was solidly built, but with her enhanced strength, he was well within her capacity to carry while running.

Peter leaned his head against her shoulder. “Kind of hoping we could do this the other way around.”

“Ready to go?” Gamora asked.

Aooo looked up. “Yes.” She had Zilnor trussed up in some net-like arrangement and slung over her shoulder. She caught Gamora’s expression. “I told you, I’m Nova Corps, I’m here to arrest him.”

“Can you carry him?” Gamora asked. It seemed like the smart option would be to kill him. She wasn’t in favor of unnecessary killing, but killing the man who’d kidnapped and murdered dozens of people seemed entirely necessary. Not to mention what he’d done to Peter.

"I'm stronger than I look."

“Okay, let’s go.”

—

The run back was actually easier and calmer. By the time they’d gotten back, most of the security staff seemed to be groaning and bleeding on the floor.

Drax was standing over them, smiling. “It is satisfying to attack these enemies without killing them! It allows them to suffer and regret their choices!”

“I am Groot!”, called out Groot, shoving several security guards against the wall.

“Indeed, valiant Groot!”

“Let’s get everyone back to the ship.”

—

As soon as they were on board, Rocket scampered into the pilot seat and took off. Gamora gently set Peter down on a low seating area.

Peter sat up carefully. “That was embarrassing.”

“What was?”, asked Gamora.

“You know, the guy is supposed to carry the girl to safety.”

“That would have been impractical,” said Drax. “Gamora is strong and powerful, while you are currently weak and helpless.”

“I mean just...guys are supposed to be strong and tough and able to rescue girls.”

“Gamora is and always has been far stronger than you. You are always weak compared to her. On your world, is that how wooing is done? Males have to woo someone weaker, and females need someone stronger?”

“Drax,” said Peter, in an annoyed voice.

“That makes no sense,” said Drax. “What if there are two men or two women? How do they decide who is suitable? And what if there is an exceptionally strong and powerful woman, like Gamora? Is she to be alone forever because compared to her all men are weak and puny? Is she only allowed to woo women, who might desire her strength? And is a weaker man, like you, forever undesirable, or only an acceptable mate to other men?”

“Not helping, Drax.”

“Is that why you and Gamora cannot...”

“That’s enough, Drax,” said Gamora.

“Everyone, hold on to something,” called out Rocket from the bridge. “I’m about to trigger the explosion!”

“Rocket, don’t,” said Gamora.

“What’s this don’t crap?”

“Don’t. We don’t need to kill everyone on there.”

“You said I could blow up everything!”

“Aooo sent a signal to Nova Corps,” said Gamora. “They’ll arrest the survivors. If we blow everything up, though, they’ll arrest us for murder.” She glanced at Aooo and gave a slight nod.

“Yes, that’s true,” said Aooo, catching Gamora’s eye. “You’ve been very cooperative, so I’m giving a warning, but I couldn’t ignore murder if it happened right in front of me.”

“Nobody lets me have any frikkin fun,” grumbled Rocket.

—

Peter was sitting up in the kitchen area having a glass of water when Aooo showed up. (He didn’t know what was in the black stuff, but Zilnor had said something about hydration, so water might help, right?)

“How are you?” Aooo asked.

“Fine,” said Peter. He felt better. Picking up a glass of water was barely effort, and he could walk a few steps if he kept his hand against the wall.

“That’s good.” Aooo put a hand on his shoulder. “I’m glad I found you again. I always wondered what happened to you, and it’s good to know the answer.”

“Thanks. It’s good to see you too,” said Peter. He took another sip of water.

“When I first saw this crew, I was worried. I thought they were something else you needed to be rescued from. But now I get it. You all make each other better.”

“We try.”

Aooo gave his shoulder a squeeze. “I’m glad you found a home.”

She leaned in and gave him a peck on the cheek.

“Take care of yourself, Peter.

—

Rocket came in about ten minutes later. “So, Quill, you still need to be carried around?”

“I didn’t need to be carried, Gamora just wanted to move quickly!”

Okay, that was a massive lie, but it was way less embarrassing than the truth.

“Whatever, humie.” Rocket made a show of looking through the food supply, then checked the entrances, and turned back to Peter. “This Zilnor, how bad?”

“What?”

“How bad does he need to be hurt?”

Peter remembered the previous conversation.  “Don’t worry about it,” he said. “He’s going to jail. It’s fine.”

“You sure? That don’t look like just a couple of needle sticks.”

“I’m fine. I just need to grow my blood back,” said Peter. “It’s not as bad as it looks.”

Rocket gave Peter a searching look, then shrugged and turned away.

“Whatever. Let me know if you change your mind.”

“Rocket?” Peter said.

“Yeah?”

“Thanks. For asking. I appreciate that.”

“D’ast soft humie,” muttered Rocket, as he walked off.

—

“Peter, may I come in?” Gamora called from outside the door of his room.

Peter sat up, quickly ran a finger through his hair, and pulled his shirt down where it had ridden up. “Sure, yeah, no problem.”

Gamora stepped inside and sat down on the bed. “I’ve been thinking, and we need to talk.”

That didn’t sound good. “Sure, no problem.”

“I do not have a lot of experience with emotions. Seeing you with Aooo...”

“She’s just a friend,” said Peter.

“She seemed more emotional. More sensitive. I thought she might suit you better, as you are also more sensitive and emotional.” Gamora turned her head.

This was getting worse by the second.  “Like I said, she’s just a friend, she’s got her life and...”

Gamora put a hand on Peter’s. “Peter.”

He stopped talking.

“I thought she would suit you better, I thought of what Drax said about the tradition of your people and stronger women with weaker men, and how, by that custom, you and I would be unsuitable, I thought of your reputation with women, I thought of everything Thanos had taught me about attachment and weakness and danger, I thought of all of the reasons why it would be a bad idea.” She broke off again.

Peter swallowed hard. Had Drax blown it for him? Had she decided he wasn’t what she wanted? Had seeing him captured like that convinced her he was too weak to be good enough for her?

“But then I thought of you, being taken by Zilnor and how you could have died. I don’t want us to die without being together. Even if it’s a bad idea, what I want is to be with you.” She looked at him. “So, if you’re still interested...”

Peter leaned in and kissed her.

He pulled his head back, half-afraid of her reaction.

She hadn’t pulled a knife, so that was a good sign.

When he looked up at her face, she was smiling. “Yes, I think I want to do that again, many times.”

“Well, let’s get started.” He put an arm around her and they kissed again.


End file.
